Hong Kong

Even despite the main focus of attention throughout the world being on COVID-19, much of the world has been watching with growing concern as events unfold in Hong Kong.

Britain has a responsibility here. The people of Hong Kong used to be British citizens, and although we tried to do the right thing by them under Chris Patten at the end, we should have allowed the people of Hong Kong to establish for themselves a properly functioning democracy decades before Chris Patten finally let them begin to build one.

Unfortunately our past record with China - I'm not one of those who think everything the British Empire ever did was evil but the Opium Wars were as close to indefensible as anything in this country's history - means that we have to be very careful how we handle China.

It is all to easy for the government of the PRC to present Britain as the colonial oppressor which they can with some justification claim our ancestors were in the past even when they are the ones who acting as a colonial oppressor today.
Writing in The Times, the Prime Minister has said the UK will honour our obligations to the people of Hong Kong if China proceeds with imposing a new national security law.
  • Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong’s success and prosperity has been underpinned by the One Country, Two System doctrine, which has guaranteed freedom and autonomy to the people who live there.
     
  • If China imposes a national security law on Hong Kong that curtails that freedom and autonomy, we will have no choice but the uphold our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, by allowing the holders of British National Overseas passports to come to the UK for a renewable period of 12 months and giving them further immigration rights, which could place them on a route to citizenship.
     
  • Britain wants nothing more than for Hong Kong to succeed under One Country, Two Systems and we want to work with China to ensure this is the case.

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